Ready for the Transition to Parenthood? Predicting Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories from Prenatal Indicators of Low Readiness

Hanne Nørr Fentz; Mikkel Aagaard Houmark; Marianne Simonsen; Tea Trillingsgaard

doi:10.1037/fam0001277

Ready for the Transition to Parenthood? Predicting Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories from Prenatal Indicators of Low Readiness

Hanne Nørr Fentz^*, Mikkel Aagaard Houmark, Marianne Simonsen, Tea Trillingsgaard

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

During the past decades, interventions to strengthen marriage and promote healthy family formation during the transition to parenthood have become more widely available. The broad attendance to such interventions may suggest to the public that having a baby can put the health of any marriage at risk, although large heterogeneity in parents’ trajectories of relationship satisfaction has been demonstrated. In this study, we investigated whether four indicators of low transition-to-parenthood readiness in expecting couples—both for the individual (actor) and their partner—predicted a larger decline in relationship satisfaction across this major life transition. Latent class growth analyses estimated heterogeneous relationship satisfaction trajectories for 1, 433 couples from 21 weeks gestation to 19 months postpartum. Findings indicated three groups of parents: 38.7% experienced initially high and stable relationship satisfaction, 51.3% initially high with a small decline, and 10.0% initially low with a large decline. For both the pregnant and nonpregnant partner, actor and partner’s prenatal doubts about the future of the relationship predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup rather than to the two more stable groups. For the nonpregnant partner, lacking a clear wish for a child substantially predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup. Nonmarital status or unplanned pregnancy did not predict group membership. These results supported that most new parents experience their relationship as robust against the challenges of early parenthood. However, parents experiencing relationship doubts and childbirth as an unwanted life transition may benefit from targeted pregnancy support.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Family Psychology
Volume	39
Issue	3
Pages (from-to)	348-358
Number of pages	11
ISSN	0893-3200
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001277
Publication status	Published - 2025

Keywords

actor–partner
dyadic data
latent class growth analysis
relationship satisfaction
transition to parenthood

Access to Document

10.1037/fam0001277

Library access?

Check availability with the Royal Danish Library

Cite this

@article{31c9a325743a44dead770582344b2be8,

title = "Ready for the Transition to Parenthood? Predicting Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories from Prenatal Indicators of Low Readiness",

abstract = "During the past decades, interventions to strengthen marriage and promote healthy family formation during the transition to parenthood have become more widely available. The broad attendance to such interventions may suggest to the public that having a baby can put the health of any marriage at risk, although large heterogeneity in parents{\textquoteright} trajectories of relationship satisfaction has been demonstrated. In this study, we investigated whether four indicators of low transition-to-parenthood readiness in expecting couples—both for the individual (actor) and their partner—predicted a larger decline in relationship satisfaction across this major life transition. Latent class growth analyses estimated heterogeneous relationship satisfaction trajectories for 1, 433 couples from 21 weeks gestation to 19 months postpartum. Findings indicated three groups of parents: 38.7% experienced initially high and stable relationship satisfaction, 51.3% initially high with a small decline, and 10.0% initially low with a large decline. For both the pregnant and nonpregnant partner, actor and partner{\textquoteright}s prenatal doubts about the future of the relationship predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup rather than to the two more stable groups. For the nonpregnant partner, lacking a clear wish for a child substantially predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup. Nonmarital status or unplanned pregnancy did not predict group membership. These results supported that most new parents experience their relationship as robust against the challenges of early parenthood. However, parents experiencing relationship doubts and childbirth as an unwanted life transition may benefit from targeted pregnancy support.",

keywords = "actor–partner, dyadic data, latent class growth analysis, relationship satisfaction, transition to parenthood",

author = "Fentz, {Hanne N{\o}rr} and Houmark, {Mikkel Aagaard} and Marianne Simonsen and Tea Trillingsgaard",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1037/fam0001277",

language = "English",

volume = "39",

pages = "348--358",

journal = "Journal of Family Psychology",

issn = "0893-3200",

publisher = "American Psychological Association",

number = "3",

}

Ready for the Transition to Parenthood? Predicting Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories from Prenatal Indicators of Low Readiness. / Fentz, Hanne Nørr ; Houmark, Mikkel Aagaard ; Simonsen, Marianne et al.
In: Journal of Family Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2025, p. 348-358.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ready for the Transition to Parenthood? Predicting Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories from Prenatal Indicators of Low Readiness

AU - Fentz, Hanne Nørr

AU - Houmark, Mikkel Aagaard

AU - Simonsen, Marianne

AU - Trillingsgaard, Tea

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - During the past decades, interventions to strengthen marriage and promote healthy family formation during the transition to parenthood have become more widely available. The broad attendance to such interventions may suggest to the public that having a baby can put the health of any marriage at risk, although large heterogeneity in parents’ trajectories of relationship satisfaction has been demonstrated. In this study, we investigated whether four indicators of low transition-to-parenthood readiness in expecting couples—both for the individual (actor) and their partner—predicted a larger decline in relationship satisfaction across this major life transition. Latent class growth analyses estimated heterogeneous relationship satisfaction trajectories for 1, 433 couples from 21 weeks gestation to 19 months postpartum. Findings indicated three groups of parents: 38.7% experienced initially high and stable relationship satisfaction, 51.3% initially high with a small decline, and 10.0% initially low with a large decline. For both the pregnant and nonpregnant partner, actor and partner’s prenatal doubts about the future of the relationship predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup rather than to the two more stable groups. For the nonpregnant partner, lacking a clear wish for a child substantially predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup. Nonmarital status or unplanned pregnancy did not predict group membership. These results supported that most new parents experience their relationship as robust against the challenges of early parenthood. However, parents experiencing relationship doubts and childbirth as an unwanted life transition may benefit from targeted pregnancy support.

AB - During the past decades, interventions to strengthen marriage and promote healthy family formation during the transition to parenthood have become more widely available. The broad attendance to such interventions may suggest to the public that having a baby can put the health of any marriage at risk, although large heterogeneity in parents’ trajectories of relationship satisfaction has been demonstrated. In this study, we investigated whether four indicators of low transition-to-parenthood readiness in expecting couples—both for the individual (actor) and their partner—predicted a larger decline in relationship satisfaction across this major life transition. Latent class growth analyses estimated heterogeneous relationship satisfaction trajectories for 1, 433 couples from 21 weeks gestation to 19 months postpartum. Findings indicated three groups of parents: 38.7% experienced initially high and stable relationship satisfaction, 51.3% initially high with a small decline, and 10.0% initially low with a large decline. For both the pregnant and nonpregnant partner, actor and partner’s prenatal doubts about the future of the relationship predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup rather than to the two more stable groups. For the nonpregnant partner, lacking a clear wish for a child substantially predicted group membership of the low and large decline subgroup. Nonmarital status or unplanned pregnancy did not predict group membership. These results supported that most new parents experience their relationship as robust against the challenges of early parenthood. However, parents experiencing relationship doubts and childbirth as an unwanted life transition may benefit from targeted pregnancy support.

KW - actor–partner

KW - dyadic data

KW - latent class growth analysis

KW - relationship satisfaction

KW - transition to parenthood

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214501982&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/fam0001277

DO - 10.1037/fam0001277

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 40167568

SN - 0893-3200

VL - 39

SP - 348

EP - 358

JO - Journal of Family Psychology

JF - Journal of Family Psychology

IS - 3

ER -

Ready for the Transition to Parenthood? Predicting Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories from Prenatal Indicators of Low Readiness

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Library access?

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this